Cockpit in Vietnam

By Vanessa Swann, Chief Executive, Cockpit Arts

This March I had the opportunity to travel to Vietnam, which enabled me to reflect on a different creative culture and discover inspiring new work. It was a rich and rewarding experience and I wanted to share some of it with you.

I was out in Vietnam primarily to help identify the potential for the creative industries in Ho Chi Minh City, to contribute to the country’s wealth. Richard Naylor, Head of Research atBOP Consulting and I were flown to HCMC as key speakers of the ‘Cultural Mapping Training Programme’ from 21-24 March. The programme was co-organised by the British Council in Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh City Investment & Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC). My role was to share the experiences of Cockpit Arts, and how we help to support designer-makers in the UK, particularly focusing on issues facing those working in craft, design and fashion.

I thoroughly enjoyed being with the creative entrepreneurs participating in the Programme as representatives of the Vietnamese Entrepreneurs Network (VCN) The enterepreneurs I met are university trained designers working predominately in the fields of fashion design and graphic design (the VCN chair is the very energetic Dang Vo, Creative Director of Brandbox), who are making a living from their creativity but need more exposure and business development support to help them realise their individual business visions and support their own goals.

In terms of their challenges, my main observations were that the market for high value craft fashion and design in Vietnam is small.  Retail opportunities are few and far between, with the L’Usine café and gallery that showcases Vietnam’s talented new creatives – from painters and sculptors to designers and graphic artists – being a key exception.  We particularly liked these lacquerware cup cakes bowls piled high in the gallery and for use on the café tables.

I was struck by the fact that the Vietnamese fashion designers I met – who are well known in their own country – are regularly employed by clothing and uniform manufacturers and are paid design fees and royalties to a much greater extent it seemed than some of our UK counterparts. The money is good but unfortunately they can spend a lot of time dealing with production processes and training.  Even though their own work is sought after by a small group of wealthy clients, there are not enough of them and they are looking to widen their customer base and spend more time on developing their own creative work.

Creatively there was much to admire. Vietnamese designers to look out for include fashion designer Ho Tran Da Thao, who was crowned winner at the 2008 International Young Fashion Entrepreneur conference organised by the British Council, and has made quite a name for herself in Vietnam.  We particularly loved her folk woodcut printed t-shirts and could envisage them being sold all over the world.

Ngo Thai Uyen is another well known Vietnamese fashion design. She currently works as the Chief Designer for ViKo Glowin Company, Lt and has also worked as an assistant costume designer for The Quiet American, a film by Philip Noyse.  She owns her own clothing label, Natural Ngo Thai Uyen.While we were there she showed us a small collection of textile products she has put together with help from local outworkers, including textured and appliquéd purses in purple hues and a range of beaded rings. What united this collection was the careful assembly of different parts made by individual craft workers, making the final piece all about the sum of the parts.  I’m modelling one of the rings in this picture, as is Uyen (middle) who is wearing one of her appliqué textile brooch.

All in all there were many similarities between the services that Cockpit offers designer-makers and the Vietnamese design community’s plans and aspirations to support its own creative entrepreneurs.  The International Arts Design School is a new venture that is a force to be reckoned with and could possibly take on a similar role to Cockpit in the area of business development coaching.  I have extended an open invitation to the designers I met in Vietnam to visit Cockpit and spend some time in our studios. It would wonderful to start a residency programme here, and all the better to have met the designers in their own country first!

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